When Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court Judge Joseph F. Russo asked Democratic Party leaders for their endorsement in December, he opened with an odd pitch.

"Hi. I'm an alcoholic," he said before hundreds of the county party's executive committee members at Cleveland's Public Hall. "Am I at the right meeting?"

Russo, one of three Democrats on the March 6 primary ballot, was trying to break the ice with a small joke about a serious problem.

He was twice convicted of disorderly conduct stemming from drunken fights with a girlfriend, once in 2006 and again in 2007. The Ohio Supreme Court in 2010 said he violated the Code of Judicial Conduct for these incidents and suspended his law license for a year. But the court offered him a break by staying the suspension and allowing him to remain on the bench as long as he continued his alcohol treatment.

Russo, elected to the court in 1998, told the audience that alcohol was the cause of his personal problems but that he remained a good judge and deserved the party's seal of approval.

The party leaders disagreed.

They delivered nearly every vote to an assistant county prosecutor named Frankie Goldberg, vice mayor of University Heights. Respected defense attorney William T. McGinty barely registered with the group.

I can cut some slack to a person with a drinking problem, a little less slack if the person is a judge.

But I can't ignore violence, and I can't ignore political hypocrisy, by Russo or others.

Voters should take notice that while Russo has been asking Democrats to vote for him over the years – he hasn't been bothering to vote for them.

Russo -- who is not related to crook and former county auditor Frank Russo -- didn't bother to vote in the 2006 primary when he ran unopposed. He didn't bother to vote in 2007 primary and general elections. He didn't bother to vote in 2008 primary and general elections. He didn't bother to vote in the 2009 special and general elections, 2010 primary or the 2011 primary. Russo did vote in last fall's general election.

Blessed with a strong ballot name, Russo has not had to work as hard as others running for office. His voting record suggests he's taking advantage of his name.

I made repeated attempts to reach Russo but was ignored. He has told others that his recovery programs have kept him from voting. That's a lame excuse, given how easy it is to vote with a mail-in ballot.

I'm not fully qualified to compare Russo's judicial skills to others on the bench or to those running. I'll leave that to the coalition of bar associations that produces judge4yourself.com, which rates judges and will soon make available its ratings in this race.

But some of Russo's court actions have earned our scrutiny. Between 2002 and 2008 -- when Russo was the court's administrative judge -- he hired at least 40 people with political and personal connections to him or to others in county, waived some job requirements for a number of them, and didn't bother to post some job openings, a 2009 investigation by Plain Dealer reporter Rachel Dissell found.

Russo's chief opponent, Goldberg, makes oblique references to his personal issues but spends her time highlighting her own resume. The mother of four is a 20-year prosecutor and a former director of Ohio Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

"Judges should be held to higher standard every day and not just every election cycle," she says. "We need to restore integrity and I pledge to be judge you can be proud of on and off the bench."

She also talks about the need to make the court more efficient and accessible to the parents by offering some evening hours and possibly satellite courts in neighborhoods.

McGinty, whose practiced law for 32 years, has been far less visible than Goldberg on the campaign trail, but he's running in earnest. He said Russo doesn't stack up against the others on the bench.

McGinty has a connection to Russo. One of McGinty's law partners – Kevin Spellacy -- was Russo's defense attorney in 2007. McGinty said he never talked to Spellacy about Russo.

"I don't see any issue with it," McGinty says.

McGinty says he too wants to make the court more accommodating to parents who are prevented by work obligations from making it to court during regular hours.

"If we don't have parents or grandparents involved, then we are not getting anywhere," he says.

Unlike many judicial primaries, the race for Russo's seat offers voters a real choice. Voters should take advantage of this opportunity: Ignore Russo.

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